There is an abundance of phantoms in the Hamptons. Everyone either has a secret identity or hidden agenda. So it seems a masquerade ball is timely because you can’t see behind the masks, just as you don’t know what is real and who you can trust – ever.

REVENGE “Masquerade” – “Every opera needs a phantom”

Six weeks on

It has been six weeks since Padma was taken by Trask to a secret location, along with the finished copy of Carrion, supposedly in exchange for the safe return of her father. The exchange hadn’t gone as planned and Nolan has spent six weeks using all his cyber-genius to track her down, but to no avail. It turns out her disappearance didn’t go unnoticed either – the police had been investigating, and Nolan was at the top of their suspects list. There appears to be no other suspects, and so, sadly, our poor Nolan remains as “the list”.

Conrad Grayson on the campaign trail

Since Jack agreed to be Conrad’s “Joe the Plumber”, the governor-in-waiting has managed to close the gap between him and his opponent but he still needs to win more “working class” votes. Using the Stowaway as his town hall for a Q&A session with the locals, Ashley suggests a little cheating could go a long way to helping Conrad win some more votes, starting with having people pre-submit their questions so that they can prepare their answers in advance and they don’t encounter any unpleasant surprises. But not wanting to take any chances, Ashley gives Conrad an ear-wig so that she and Jack can be in his ear giving him tips to help him along.

Jack has his own agenda

Armed with Nate’s recording of his conversations with Conrad, Jack is determined to pretend to play nice with Conrad while he carries out his own revengenda. While he is still mad at Emily for not telling him the truth about Amanda’s intentions to take down the Graysons for framing her father, he is still BFFs with Nolan. With Nolan’s help, Jack manages to not only sabotage Conrad’s Q&A session, but at the same time, secures an election campaign promise that could see the David Clarke case re-opened and receive a posthumous Presidential pardon should the conspiracy theories prove to be correct (it will be interesting to see how the Graysons weasel their way out of this one when Conrad wins – and we all know this is the inevitable next step, right?).

The Graysons don’t believe in e-vites

It’s Halloween time but you would never catch the Hamptons elite wearing superhero costumes (perhaps because they believe themselves to be better than superheroes?) but they are always ready to party. This time, it’s the annual Grayson Masquerade Ball and we are reminded that this annual ball was cancelled last year while Daniel was being tried for murder. So much has happened in the twelve months since. While Victoria is sorting out her party acceptances, Ashley delivers a few from campaign HQ, one of which is suspiciously postmarked 1973 and reads “FROM YOUR LOVING SON” and it wasn’t from Daniel.

Haunted by the past

Victoria Grayson isn’t scared by much, which is saying a lot considering the amount of evil she has committed in her life. But with the possibility of her illegitimate firstborn son finding her, even the Queen of the Hamptons is frazzled enough that she faints (into the strong, murderous arms of none other than the very suave-looking Aiden) in the middle of her ball. Did she really see her son? Well, no, because she gave up her son not long after he was born in a convent, with a promise from the Sister who helped her that she would never tell the baby who his real mother is and that she would never tell her what became of him. But meanwhile, Emily milks this opportunity to its fullest, knowing Victoria’s children are her weakness, spooking her with this faceless man.

Nolan, unlucky in love

Someone in the writers room is determined to make Nolan suffer. First, they made him fall for a psychopathic killer, then it is revealed that his former CEO and lover gave him up to the Graysons, causing him to lose his beloved Nolcorp. And now, since declaring his love for Padma, Nolan suffers even greater heartache as Aiden manages to lure Trask out of hiding and forces him to reveal (at gunpoint) where they had taken Padma – but alas, it was all too late. The Initiative had killed her and her father – and at the same time were trying to frame Aiden for their murders. How have they managed to underestimate Aiden? A little choke-hold and a twist of the arms and it’s bye bye Trask!

Never miss a Grayson party

While the Grayson Masquerade Ball is not as sinister as Eyes Wide Shut, you would never mistake who’s the good and who’s the evil at this ball – Victoria looking the Queen of the party in a black lacy number while Emily is resplendent in white. And then there’s Charlotte, still mourning the sudden death of her half-sister, lets rip an awesome right hook that almost TKO’d a bitchy party guest who dared to poke fun at Amanda.

Daniel wins back the girl

After receiving a stalker photo of him having lunch with Emily, accompanied by two bullets, Daniel put things on hold with her again. But when Trask assures him the Initiative doesn’t “make threats in two dimensions, we act in three”, Daniel figures out that his mother is the source of his little surprise. And oh how I loved it when he put those two bullets back into Victoria’s hands, with the best line of the night: “one for each of your faces.”

A new alliance is formed

Jack has been the sweet innocent (if not slightly clueless with all that was going on right under his nose all this time) one in amongst the crazy revenging but now things are set to change. He is ready to take down Conrad Grayson and has decided that Ashley may be useful to his cause. They are both backing Conrad for the same reason – they are trying to milk as much out of him as possible while Jack is also trying to avenge Amanda’s death and prove her father’s innocence – to finish what she started. Meanwhile, Ashley needs to prove that she had nothing to do with Amanda’s death (although legally that could be questionable if she knew as much as she did, even if she didn’t know what any of the information she held meant at the time). This makes for an interesting new alliance and one that I certainly did not see coming. Where will this go? Will Ashley ultimately give Jack up if it means she could climb the social ladder even further?

The convent where helpless girls go

Now that Emily knows where Victoria had gone to have her baby all those years ago, what is she going to do? The last scene we saw as Victoria walks away was Emily taking the seat she had just vacated and confessing to the Sister that she was pregnant and needed help. What will this mean? How will she use this poor nun to help her cause?

Photo: Colleen Hayes for ABC. Written by Valerie Leung. Share your Revenge theories with her on Twitter (@valshopaholic) and read her blog LibragirlRules.com.